There are a few ways to ensure that you get your money's worth when dealing with a dating service. First of all, you should be sure and check each and every response. If not, you could possibly miss out on meeting the person you've been looking for. If you receive a response from someone that doesn't seem interesting, you should still respond. Sometimes first impressions can be negative, but if you give the person a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Another way to make sure that you get your money's worth when using a dating service is to read the fine print. Some of the more popular dating services like eHarmony.com or Match.com offer a money-back guarantee that if you use their service you will find someone special. This isn't a guarantee that things will work out after you've entered into a relationship with someone, but simply that you'll meet at least one person who is supposedly "compatible" with you.

Unfortunately, since internet dating means that you're not initially meeting the perspective date in person, there are many people that pose as other people. This is done by either posting a picture of someone other than themselves, for instance, as well as in many other ways. It should be easy, however, to determine if a person is serious or not, and most likely if you're on a paid dating site, you're less likely to encounter such people. One way to protect you from being involved in anything fraudulent is to follow the site's safety tip, and forward any complaints to the appropriate person in charge of the site. When meeting someone from an online dating site for the first time, it's important to meet in a public place. Never go to someone's house or allow them to pick you up before you've gotten to know them.

Before you make the final decision to pay for a dating service, you need to make sure that you plan on making the most of the whole situation. If after 6 months you haven't met anyone you're even remotely compatible with and you've put in as much effort as possible, perhaps its' time to reevaluate things. Maybe you're looking for the perfect person when in actuality, the perfect person doesn't exist. A person with a few acceptable faults can still be a great companion--and even possibly be your soul mate.